Extraordinary Bodies

The meaning of what constitutes extraordinary bodies can only be understood by first contemplating the notion of ordinary bodies. An ordinary body is largely indistinguishable from others—because, by definition, that is what makes it unremarkable. An ordinary body reflects the accepted understandings of social norms of a particular culture in history. Conceptions of normalcy, like beauty, vary enormously from culture to culture. Ordinary is often used synonymously with terms such as average, standard, regular, and normal. When applied to bodies, the term extraordinary conjures one or more physical characteristics that are considered either above or below average measurement, nonstandard, irregular, or even abnormal. In plain terms, an extraordinary body is one that exhibits noticeable discrepancies from what is recognized as normal.

Individuals with physical differences from the ordinary body have existed in all human societies throughout history. The significance accorded such anomalies has varied then, as it varies now, throughout all different societies within the world. For example, some cave paintings depict monstrous births; prehistoric gravesites reveal ritualized sacrifices; and images on clay tablets found in ancient Assyria record congenital abnormalities (birth defects) revealing a systemized belief of prophecies. Disability studies scholar Rosemarie Garland Thomson notes how Western philosophers throughout the ages from Aristotle to Cicero, Bacon to Montaigne, were all intrigued by the differently formed body, usually interpreting it as part of God's mysterious design or an example of his wrath.

Viewing physical anomalies can evoke a variety of emotionally charged and often conflicting responses in ordinary people, whom Garland Thomson calls normates. Coexisting with attraction and fascination are gradations of repulsion and fear, creating an uneasy combination that destabilizes understandings held by normates about their own identities, that is, what it means to be human. Being viewed as having an extraordinary body can also influence the identity of people with extraordinary bodies. If accepted by the larger group, people with extraordinary bodies are assimilated, although they are always marked by their difference. If rejected by the larger group, they are excluded from mainstream society and relegated to the margins (for example, in institutions, charities, leper colonies, etc.). In some cases, individuals with physical anomalies are systematically killed (through sacrifice, abandonment at birth, forceful removal and placement into Nazi concentration camps, abortion following amniocentesis, etc.). This entry focuses on society's response to, and the representation of, people with extraordinary bodies.